When the Iranian revolution began in 1978, Azita Bina-Seibel and her sister were students in Boston unable to return home to Tehran. They were soon joined by their younger brother Babak and mother, Aghdas.
Partnering up with Babak, Azita turned her love of cooking into a family business that began with Italian trattoria Azita in 1990, then expanded to Persian restaurant Lala Rokh in 1995, followed by Bin 26 Enoteca in 2006, jm Curley in 2011 and Bogie’s Place in 2013. Along the way, Babak Bina helped found the Taste of the South End and Taste of Beacon Hill fundraisers and created the nonprofit Bina Farm Center, in Lexington, which assists individuals with special needs.
Of all the restaurants, Lala Rokh holds a special place in the siblings’ hearts. Many recipes come from their mother. “There was no recipe book,” Bina-Seibel remembers. “I’d say, ‘OK, Ma, let’s cook this,’ and she’d start cooking, and just before she’d put an ingredient in—a handful of this, a handful of that—I’d measure how much. We had to be consistent.” Even today, when 83-year-old Aghdas Zoka-Bina visits her native Azerbaijan, she brings back ingredients for the Lala Rokh larder, like the dried lime used to season ghormeh sabzi, slow-stewed lamb and greens.
Lala Rokh, 97 MT. Vernon St., Boston (617-720-5511) lalarokh.com
Acquired Tastes
By Mat Schaffer | Photo Credit: Holly Rike | Sept. 30, 2016
Azita Bina-Seibel & Babak Bina
When the Iranian revolution began in 1978, Azita Bina-Seibel and her sister were students in Boston unable to return home to Tehran. They were soon joined by their younger brother Babak and mother, Aghdas.
Partnering up with Babak, Azita turned her love of cooking into a family business that began with Italian trattoria Azita in 1990, then expanded to Persian restaurant Lala Rokh in 1995, followed by Bin 26 Enoteca in 2006, jm Curley in 2011 and Bogie’s Place in 2013. Along the way, Babak Bina helped found the Taste of the South End and Taste of Beacon Hill fundraisers and created the nonprofit Bina Farm Center, in Lexington, which assists individuals with special needs.
Of all the restaurants, Lala Rokh holds a special place in the siblings’ hearts. Many recipes come from their mother. “There was no recipe book,” Bina-Seibel remembers. “I’d say, ‘OK, Ma, let’s cook this,’ and she’d start cooking, and just before she’d put an ingredient in—a handful of this, a handful of that—I’d measure how much. We had to be consistent.” Even today, when 83-year-old Aghdas Zoka-Bina visits her native Azerbaijan, she brings back ingredients for the Lala Rokh larder, like the dried lime used to season ghormeh sabzi, slow-stewed lamb and greens.
Lala Rokh, 97 MT. Vernon St., Boston (617-720-5511) lalarokh.com
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